Is this name too far "out there" for my baby boy? (pun intended)

[dantea]

I don't think Orion is popular at all! I like it much better than Jupiter with Galileo. I actually really like Galileo too, but not for myself.

How about another persons name, like Galileo?

Here's some:

Thales -- He understood that the earth was round, and that the moon was lit by light reflecting from the sun.
Ptolemy -- Ptolemy Claudius was the last great Alexandrian astronomer. Refined the system of planetary motion developed by Hipparchus, which had Earth at the center of the universe, known as the “Ptolemaic System”.
Claudius
Giovanni (Domenico Cassini)-- Italian-born French astronomer. He was also know as Jean Dominique and was the first director of the Royal Observatory in Paris. He discovered four of Saturn's moons (Dione, Rhea, Lapetus, and Tethys) and the major gap in its rings.


Or, I loved the constellation name suggestion:

Aries
Draco
Perseus
Phoenix

Some star names:

Altair
Atlas
Castor
Nembus
Polaris
Pollux
Regulus
Sirius


I also remember that you were thinking about Da Vinci. Are you still thinking about that because I really liked it and think it would sound good with Galileo. Or maybe you want some other inventors that weren't necessarily astronomers? Or maybe an artist like Donatello? If so, I'll be happy to come back with some more names for you. I love these kind of names (historical and mythological are my favorite ^_^)

Hope I helped!

[rollo]

What about Raphael (the painter) I think this has lots of style and pizzazz and Galileo and Raphael sound like great brothers!

If that is too common for your tastes have a look at this site http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/heavens.html

It has lots of information about astronomers etc and one name that I thought you may like is Petrus, which I presume is an old spelling of Peter meaning a rock.

[r_j]

Tycho- (for Tycho Brahe who has, I think, one of the coolest names ever)

Leavitt- (might be a nice acknowledgment of female astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt)

Hubble- Edwin Hubble who based his work on Leavitt's work. The telescope link might be nice.

Sagan- for Carl Sagan of course

[leonielee]

I love Orion! I'm not a huge fan of Jupiter myself. I do love Galileo though! Of the suggestions so far, I second:

Sirius
Atlas- Love this name!
Perseus
Altair
Ptolemy

[notcinnamon]

I adore extremely obscure names, sometimes for their obscurity alone. I think stylistically speaking Galileo and Jupiter are perfectly fitting. However, I don't see as much teasing potential with Galileo. Jupiter is so grand and obvious, a part of grammar school education at the same time teasing is at its peak. I do remember in Baby Wizard's first publication, she supposed that Jupiter wasn't too far-fetched. You might enjoy going back to read exactly what she said...As out of the box as I am, I wasn't quite convinced and still not. I do respect your naming taste and wish you the best in your quest. There's always the real chance that Jupiter will love his naming story so much the teasing won't matter. Also, you are following a general rule of thumb I hold myself to. DO NOT settle on baby #2 and beyond. Whatever naming style you establish, at the very least equal it, and ideally make it even more of a statement, with #2. You're there! LOL

[courtneymarie]

I hate to do this, but when I hear Jupiter, I immediately think of this rhyme my friends and I used to chant while we jumped rope as kids..."Girls go to college to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider." While I don't think schoolyard nicknames should always be deal breakers when considering baby names, I do think you should take that into consideration.

[emarie11]

I like Orian a lot!

[whit32]

I hate to do this, but when I hear Jupiter, I immediately think of this rhyme my friends and I used to chant while we jumped rope as kids..."Girls go to college to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider." While I don't think schoolyard nicknames should always be deal breakers when considering baby names, I do think you should take that into consideration.

I thought of the same rhyme, except ours was "Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, Girls go to mars to get more candy bars." I think I like the college version better ;-) Callisto is the name of one of Jupiter's moons (and it was discovered by Galileo). It sounds more like a name to me than Jupiter. Good luck!

[stripedsocks]

I don't think Jupiter will enjoy being referred to as a "gas giant" in middle school. Jove would sidestep some of those issues.

Celestial names less common than Orion:
Deneb
Rigel
Cygnus
Deimos

Scientists, which would really be my preferred category:
Ptolemy
Aristotle
Leonardo
Archimedes
Copernicus
Tycho

[rowanasabe]

I second Aristotle. I watched a film with a main character called Aristotle, and I found it to be really handsome. I would put it on my short list if only my husband could get on board with it.